Their 15 project partners and over 40 engineers and scientists are
constructing Roboy as a tendon-driven robot modeled on human beings
(robots usually have their motors in their joints, giving them that
“robot” break-dance look), so it will move almost as elegantly as a
human.

Roboy will be a “service robot,” meaning it will execute services
independently for the convenience of human beings, as in the movie Robot & Frank.

And since service robots share their “living space” with people,
user-friendliness and safety, above all, are of great importance,
roboticists point out.

Which is why “soft robotics” — soft to the touch, soft in their
interaction, soft and natural in their movements — will be important,
and Roboy will be covered with “soft skin,” making interacting with him
safer and more pleasant.

Service robots are already used in a wide variety of areas today,
including for household chores, surveillance work and cleaning, and in
hospitals and care homes. Our aging population is making it necessary to
keep older people as autonomous as possible for as long as possible,
which means caring for aged people is likely to be an important area for
the deployment of service robots, roboticists say.

To speed up the process, the AI Lab researchers set a goal to build
Roboy in just 9 months (the project began five months ago). Roboy will
be unveiled at the Robots on Tour March 8 and 9, 2013 in Zurich.
To make this ambitious schedule possible, they decided to finance the
first grassroots robotics project via crowdfunding. To participate, see
Make Roboy your friend.